Layne Schmerin and Jonathan Lepow are brothers and co-founders of the marketing firm Top Tree. The firm has a track record of marketing campaigns agnostic to brand, location, service, or person as they have indeed done it all. They hold a high regard for personalizing marketing campaigns while leveraging their experience to actively generate results. There are some life lessons they learned through the art of business.
Here are a few tips they would mention to newbies in the online business:
- Make Karma Favor you
If you are bad, the world will be bad to you. If you are good, then good will come back to you. Simple concept: What goes around comes around.
“I truly believe that Karma is real. When you put energy out there you will get it back one way or another.” They try to hold this near and dear to their heart as it is something that is a very important part of the culture at Top Tree. They strive to provide excellent service to clients with goodwill and transparency. Additionally “what goes up must come down”. Thus putting positive energy towards something will come back to you.
The brothers try to give back to the community as much as they can.
- Be Humble
The brothers hold humility as an important part of their culture as well. Humility is something we are all taught either at home or in school. However for some of us that are not the most humble, life has its ways of humbling us. One year your business may be killing it, but the next year it may tank. However, it is very important to be humble during your ups as sometimes “people may not help you get back up” if you are not humble. This ties into Karma as you must give back to others in need as you might have needed help in the past. Regardless, you will definitely need some sort of help in the future. So make sure that arrogance is something you stay away from. After celebrating major milestones, you must never think that you have made it. Focus on the next goal.
- Protect yourself from Harm
Do not trust everyone who claims that they can help you. In business there are no friends; It is about profits and making sure you aren’t harming anyone else. Family and friends should be very carefully evaluated when it comes to decisions involving their activity in your business. Alternatively, make sure that you aren’t being harmed either. Layne and Jonathan have had times where sometimes they are excited and they wanted to put in all their time and resources towards something but then had to reevaluate their thoughts on it to mitigate risk and prevent self harm.
Also, make sure the legal aspects of your business are right.
- Focus on Perception
Financial metrics such as a high rate of return or return on investment are a crucial part of business success. However, the various ways others see your business is even more important to your company success. Making clients happy by ensuring a high quality customer service is important to the brothers. There is a saying that the “customer is always right”. There is also a saying that “client is always king”. Both are held highly to the brothers.
Build a reputable brand by ensuring your business is right for the respective customer.
Remember your business record and reviews are only one search away. Social credibility is essential to company success to convince potential investors, buyers, or clients that your company is right for them.
